A class action lawsuit has been brought against Square Enix of America alleging unfair business practices, false advertising and unjust enrichment with regard to their long running MMORPG Final Fantasy XI.

In the suit, lead plaintiff Esther Leong of San Francisco claims that Square Enix deceived more than 100,000 customers about the game's monthly fees, penalties and restrictions. The suit seeks damages of $5 million. The nasty business which Leong charges that Square Enix engaged in includes:

Licensing of online game software disguised as a sale

Monthly fees to play the game

Penalties for late payment of fees

Interest charges for late payment of fees

Charges while the user's acccount is suspended

Termination of right to play for late payment of fees

User restrictions and conditions related to the game

Termination of game data for late payment of fees

Unfortunately, specific details of how Square Enix allegedly screwed its customers are not specified in the complaint. 1UP points out that the FFXI website lists a $12.95 monthly fee to play

Comments

So, you really think that if I told you you had to pay a scrip, but you're just retarded and don't hear me, I'm guilty of false advertising? No. If Square in fact told their consumers that they'd have to pay a subscription (which they did, it's on the box, on the website, and everywhere else), then it's not false advertising when they have to pay for one, whether the consumer "thinks so" or not.

Freedom of speech means the freedom to say ANYTHING, so long as it is the truth. This does not exclude anything that might hurt someone's feelings.

No, that's not what I'm saying. I operate from the assumption that the Plaintiffs think they have some basis to claim that they have been deceived by Square Enix. What that basis is, I don't know. I assume you don't know, either. But what I do know as a matter of law is that the mere fact that the box states that a fee is required or that the website states a fee is required or the Terms of Use state a fee is required doesn't matter so long as Plaintiffs can point to some false statement on the part of Square Enix which would have lead them to reasonably believe that no fees were required.

Nothing about the agreement is breaking the law. All of these terms are just like cellphone plans, and I'm sure that argument will come up in Square's defense of this. With a cellphone, if you are late, they shut your phone off until you pay it. They still charge you, plus interest, until the payment is made in full. This also includes late fees and service charges. I don't think they delete your stuff if you are late in paying, but you get my point. It's still a binding contract. The problem is that people don't read an EULA. I say it's their own fault. "I didn't read the legal stuff and handed over my credit card. Now I want money!"

The fact of the matter is that, no matter what happens, this is going to affect the entire MMO landscape, and most likely not in a good way.

Freedom of speech means the freedom to say ANYTHING, so long as it is the truth. This does not exclude anything that might hurt someone's feelings.

Basically, say you’re a returning member and you join on the 31st of a month. You are going to get billed in full for that month and then the next day on the 1st you’ll get billed for the entire month. Basically their bill cycle doesn’t revolve around when you signed up except for your free month.

Also what many people have been complaining about say your credit card was deactivated, they are going to charge you later fees instead of just deactivating your account like anyone else.

Also you can only have a certain amount of characters which is three I believe and rest it’s a dollar for another one.

On some of the challenges for this Civil Case I think there is plenty of merit. This lawsuit has also been filed in San Francisco the Liberal Mecca of the Democratic Party. So when this case goes to appeals it will most likely go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals which is also the most Liberal and Most overturned court in the United States and United States history which means we might see a Supreme Court case out of this which can change the landscape of all Massive Multiplayer Online games which can be a good or bad thing.

However, a company is not supposed to act as such especially let’s say if your hospitalized your information was stolen so you deactivated your card. This case does have merit, let us not forget the Billing Practices of Playonline have already been challenged in Illinois and in my state they actually have to make it easier to bill and make sure anyone can cancel their account at any time without issue.

Shout box

Infophile: @Matt: Apparently Dan Aykroyd actually is involved. We don't know how yet, though, but he's apparently going to be in the movie in some way.08/02/2015 - 4:17am

Mattsworkname: I still hold that not having the origonal cast invovled in any way hurts this movie, and unless the 4 actresses in the lead roles can some how measure up to the comic timing of the origonal cast, i just don't see it being a success08/02/2015 - 12:46am

Mattsworkname: Mecha: regardless of what you think of it, GB 2 was a finanical success and for it time did well with audiances ,even if it wasnt as popular as the first08/02/2015 - 12:45am

MechaTama31: I think they're better off trying to do something different, than trying to be exactly the same and having every little difference held up as a shortcoming. Uncanny valley.08/01/2015 - 11:57pm

MechaTama31: Having the original cast didn't do much for... that pink-slimed atrocity which we must never speak of.08/01/2015 - 11:56pm

Mattsworkname: Andrew: If the new ghostbusters bombs, I cant help but feel it'll be cause it removed the origonal cast and changed the formula to much08/01/2015 - 8:31pm

Andrew Eisen: Not the best look but that appears to be a PKE meter hanging from McCarthy's belt.08/01/2015 - 7:34pm

Mattsworkname: You know what game is a lot of fun? rocket league. It' s a soccer game thats actually fun to play cause your A Freaking CAR!08/01/2015 - 7:02pm

Mattsworkname: Nomad colossus did a little video about it, showing the world and what can be explored in it's current form. It's worth a look, and he uses text for commentary as not to break the immerison08/01/2015 - 5:49pm

Mattsworkname: I feel some more mobility would have made it more interesting and I feel that a larger more diverse landscape with better graphiscs would help, but as a concept, it interests me08/01/2015 - 5:48pm

Andrew Eisen: Huh. I guess I'll have to check out a Let's Play to get a sense of the game.08/01/2015 - 5:47pm

Mattsworkname: It did, I found the idea of exploring a world at it's end, exploring the abandoned city of a disappeared alien race and the planets various knooks and crannies intriqued me.08/01/2015 - 5:46pm

Andrew Eisen: Did it appeal to you? If so, what did you find appealing?08/01/2015 - 5:43pm

Mattsworkname: Its an interesting concept, but it's not gonna appeal to everyone thats for sure,08/01/2015 - 5:40pm

Andrew Eisen: That sounds horrifically boring. Doesn't sound like an interesting use of its time dilation premise either. 08/01/2015 - 5:36pm

Mattsworkname: an observer , seeing this sorta frozen world and being able to explore without any restriction other then time. no enimes, no threats, just the chance to explore08/01/2015 - 5:34pm

Mattsworkname: Andrew: I meant lifeless planet, Time frame is an exploration game. Your dropped onto a world which is gonna be hit by a metor in 10 seconds, but due to time dilation ,you actually have ten minutes, so you can explore the world, in it's last moments, as08/01/2015 - 5:32pm